How Will Local Authorities Cope with Yet More Budget Cuts

How on Earth Will Local Authorities Cope with Yet More Budget Cuts?

Just when you thought we had seen the worst when it comes to budget cuts in local authorities, alas, it would appear we now have to batten down the hatches and prepare ourselves for yet another cruel slash. This is bound to lead to even more job losses in the local councils up and down the country; at a time when local authorities have already cut services and employee numbers as far as it is physically possible to do so.

National and local news have been reporting on the fact that local authorities have already been on their knees as a consequence of the massive cuts that were imposed on them by the Government the last time. In fact, unless you’ve been living in a bubble without any access to the media for the past couple of years, you would not have been able to get away from it.

So, when the LA’s are already failing to cope with such drastic cuts to their budgets and at a time when they were also prevented from raising Council Tax rates, what do the Government plan next? Yes, absolutely, you’ve guessed it: time for yet another massive cut to their budgets! Wow, it fair takes your breath away, doesn’t it?

The simple truth of the matter here must be that local authorities really will not be able to deal with these further cuts to their budgets. They have already failed to assist vital services and charities within their boundaries over the past couple of years and these factors have led to massive problems up and down the country. Including cuts to truly essential services for homeless people; or advice services to vulnerable people in our society and lest we forget the fact that so many homes for the elderly and vulnerable have taken the full impact of the last cruel and unrealistic cuts.

When you sit back and contemplate the reasoning behind these massive cuts in the first place, it definitely strikes you as unjust that the banks have been bailed-out with many billions of tax-payers-pounds, yet everyday members of society are forced to bear the biggest effects of this downturn in the economy. All the while many of the banks continue to do well and they still steadfastly insist on paying their unscrupulous employees such unethical and gigantic bonuses. And when we say gigantic we really do mean it! At times we could be talking literally hundreds of thousands of pounds, or even millions each, which would make such a tremendous difference to that charity that aims to help people live and deal with the stress of sharing their life with someone who suffers from acute dementia or Alzheimer’s, for example.

These factors make such further cuts to the budgets of local authorities far harder to swallow. What is more, this is unlikely to be the end to these massive cuts, either. The situation in a few years’ time is bound to be even more unsustainable than it is today.